Prettish
General information Phonology Consonants Vowels Diphthongs ae ae̞: au aɯ: ie ɵy: oi ɒɪ̈: Alphabet Aa a: Āā æ: Ăă ɥa: Ââ ɥæ: Bb bɪ̈: Dd d̪ɪ̈: Ḍḍ ðɪ̈: Ee e̞: Ēē y: Ĕĕ ɥe̞: Êê ɥy: Ff ɸɪ̈: Gg gɪ̈: Hh hɪ̈: Ḥḥ xɪ̈: Ii ɪ̈: Īī ɵ: Ĭĭ ɥɪ̈: Îî ɥɵ: Jj t̪s̪ɪ̈: Ɉɉ tɕɪ̈: Kk kʼɪ̈: Ll lɪ̈: Mm mɪ̈: Nn n̪ɪ̈: Oo o̞: Ōō ɒ: Ŏŏ jo̞: Ôô jɒ: Pp pʼɪ̈: Rr ɰɪ̈: Ss s̪ɪ̈: Ṣṣ ɕɪ̈: Tt t̪ʼɪ̈: Ṭṭ θɪ̈: Uu ɜ: Ūū ɯ: Ŭŭ jɜ: Ûû jɯ: Vv βɪ̈: Xx d̪z̪ɪ̈: Ӿӿ dʑɪ̈: Zz z̪ɪ̈: Ẓẓ ʑɪ̈: Phonotactics A syllable in Prettish can consist of *a vowel or diphthong alone; *an acceptable initiating consonant/cluster followed by a long vowel or diphthong; *a short vowel followed by an acceptable terminating consonant/cluster; or *an acceptable initiating consonant/cluster followed by a short vowel followed by an acceptable terminating consonant/cluster, Acceptable initiating consonants/clusters *any consonant *any sibilant/plosive cluster; or *any sibilant/nasal cluster; Acceptable terminating consonant/clusters *any consonant other than h, k, p, or t; *any non-ejective plosive/sibilant cluster; *any fricative/sibilant cluster; or *any nasal/sibilant cluster. Dividing a word into syllables: The beginning of a syllable is marked: #when the the word starts #after a vowel or diphthong that is immediately followed by another vowel or diphthong #after a sibilant/plosive cluster #after a sibilant/nasal cluster The end of a syllable is marked: #when the word ends #after a non-ejective plosive/sibilant cluster #after a fricative/sibilant cluster #after a nasal/sibilant cluster Grammar Inflections An inflection is a suffix added to a word and that indicates: the number/quantity of the word, called the word’s category which other word in the sentence the word relates to, called the word’s'' referent'' how the word relates to its referent, called the word’s case There are three categories of words, with differing numbers/quantities for each: singleton – these words have exactly one indivisible instance, e.g., all proper nouns are singletons mass – these words consist of a single whole that can be divided into infinitely different partial quantities, e.g., liquids, emotions countable – these words consist of indivisible individuals in infinitely configurable plural groups, e.g., objects, people There are five cases for words: *ablative dative (word and referent moving together, word is performed by referent) genitive (word possesses/contains referent) locative (word and referent at same location) ornative (word possessed/contained by referent) There are four different words in a sentence that a word can relate to: R1: the topic R2: the focus *R3: its successor (when neither the topic nor the focus) R4: what its successor relates to (when neither the topic nor the focus) The focus of a sentence is always the first word, has no referent, and is unmarked for case. When a new topic is introduced, it is always the first word in the sentence and is, hence, the focus. In subsequent sentences with the same topic, it is referred to with a pronoun beginning with ‘at’ and can appear at any position in the sentence. To decide the ending of a word ask yourself three questions: · What category/number/quantity is the word? · What is the word’s relationship to its ultimate referent, i.e., its case? · What is the word’s immediate referent, i.e., the same as its ultimate referent except for R4? the order here indicates what the referent is: topic, focus, successor, successor’s referent *geminate the final consonant **when a word is the focus of a sentence, it has no referent Examples' ' A man walked by here yesterday talking to himself. I tried to get his attention, but he wouldn’t listen to me.' ' Fôza tôzzâ kôgĕ ɉăbii. . Man yesterday here walking Let’s break this sentence down. First we have fôz, which means man. We can see that the ending is –a and the final consonant is not geminated. Since this is the first word in the sentence, we also know that this is the focus and so we can peruse our chart above and find that this word indicates an individual man. (We know this cannot be a singleton, because there is more than one man in the world.) Now, the second word is tôz, which means yesterday. (This is a countable noun in Prettish, since there is more than one yesterday.) We can see that the ending is –â and the final consonant is geminated. So, we peruse the countable section of our chart for endings matching this. We then learn that this is an individual yesterday, that it is in the locative case, and that its referent is the referent of its successor. Next, the third word is kôg, which means here. (This is a countable noun in Prettish, since there is more than one here.) We can see that the ending is –ĕ and the final consonant is not geminated. So, we peruse the countable section of our chart for endings matching this. We then learn that this is an individual here, that it is in the locative case, and that its referent is its successor. Finally, the last word is ɉăb, which means walking. (Walking is a mass noun in Prettish.) We can see that the ending is –ii and the final consonant is not geminated. So, we peruse the mass section of our chart for endings matching this. We then learn that this is a partitive expression of walking in the dative case and that the referent is the topic, which in this case is also the focus. Xīnau atee atēē. Talking him him Paurau pûjuu ataa ammī. Attention-getting trying him me Biegau ṣobuu attī amee. Listening negativity him me or Ṣobau ate ammĭ biegaa. Negativity him me listening Pete came from Atlanta yesterday on his Harley. Pita Harllē lēṣē Atlante tôzĕ xieɉii . Pete Harley using Atlanta yesterday coming Other cases expressed with constructions: Location · inessive (within, in the middle of, during, while) *adessive (on the outer surface of) *apudessive (beside, next to) *antessive (before, in front of) *postessive (after, behind) *superessive (above, on top of) *subessive (below, underneath) Motion Towards *illative (into) *allative (onto) Motion Away From *elative (from out of) *delative (from off of) Other · instrumental (by means of, using) word+ablative '' lēṣ''+ornative *comitative (along with, in the company of) *benefactive (for the benefit of) Pronouns' ' atinflection – refer to topic in sentences after it has been introduced aminflection – speaker(s) avinflection – listener(s) Vocabulary Example text Category:Languages